Silver lining for Giants fans: according to safety Antrel Rolle, if New York played Washington 100 times, they'd win 95 of them. Dark cloud: Sunday's 28-14 no-show performance included one of the five losses. Appearing on WFAN 660 Tuesday, Rolle offered up his analysis when asked what coach Tom Coughlin's message was to the team following their impotent effort against the Redskins.

“His message was something that I think that we all understand," Rolle said, according to NorthJersey.com. "His message was definitely something that we all understand, something that we all can relate to. We as a team and as an organization, we know that the Washington Redskins is not a better than us. We know that hands down. If we played them 100 times, they might win five.

“And they won that day. And it never leaves a good taste in your mouth when you lose to an opponent that you know you’re better than. And we understood where things went wrong. I don’t think we played a good game at all as a team. I don’t think that we played good on special teams, on defense or on offense.”

We don't have any problem with Rolle's comments -- he should think the Giants are better than their opponent even if it's not true. And let's be honest, even with a boatload of injuries, New York was facing Rex Grossman. As a defense, you always have a chance for a big play if Grossman's under center. At least that used to be the case. Grossman's looked like Good Rex for much of the preseason and he was efficient and accurate against the Giants Sunday. The fear, of course, is that Bad Rex can take over Grossman's body without much warning and a perfectly good outing can quickly turn into a four-interception afternoon.

Even Rolle, perhaps grudgingly, acknowledged that Good Rex showed up in Week 1.

“He moved around the pocket pretty well. Rex looked very comfortable in the offense that he was running. Do I think that’s going to be the case next time around? Absolutely not. But on that given day, they were the better team. There’s nothing else you can say about it.”

And then Rolle went on to say more, conceding that losing key players to injuries certainly didn't help the Giants' chances.

“I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t. We understand the caliber of guys that we lost. That goes first and foremost. But at the same time, the game still has to be played. We’re still going out there to complete. We’re still going out there to try to get a win. I don’t care if it’s the six-stringer in there or it’s the All-Pro in there, I expect the game to be played at the end of the day. … We don’t hold pity on ourselves because no one else is going to."

For now, the Giants are 0-1 against Good Rex. Next up: the St. Louis Rams, another team hit hard by injuries.

UPDATE: 7:40 p.m. ET: Via CBSSports.com Rapid Reporter Brian London: "The university released the following statement reacting to a Yahoo Sports story alleging extra benefits provided by former booster Nevin Shapiro: 'As stated [Tuesday] morning, the University of Miami takes any allegations seriously, and will continue to cooperate fully in a joint investigation with the NCAA.'"

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A former University of Miami booster has admitted that he provided thousands of impermissible benefits to at least 72 athletes for an eight-year period beginning in 2002, Yahoo! Sports' Charles Robinson reported Tuesday, including former and current NFL players.

Nevin Shapiro, who is now incarcerated for his role in a $930 million Ponzi scheme, provided Yahoo! Sports more than 100 hours of behind-bars interviews over an 11-month period.

According to Robinson, "Shapiro described a sustained, eight-year run of rampant NCAA rule-breaking, some of it with the knowledge or direct participation of at least seven coaches from the Miami football and basketball programs. At a cost that Shapiro estimates in the millions of dollars, he said his benefits to athletes included but were not limited to: cash, prostitutes, entertainment in his multimillion-dollar homes and yacht, paid trips to high-end restaurants and nightclubs, jewelry, bounties for on-field play (including bounties for injuring opposing players), travel and on one occasion, an abortion."

Robinson writes that in order to substantiate Shapiro's claims, Yahoo! Sports "audited approximately 20,000 pages of financial and business records from his bankruptcy case, more than 5,000 pages of cell phone records, multiple interview summaries tied to his federal Ponzi case, and more than 1,000 photos. Nearly 100 interviews were also conducted with individuals living in six different states. In the process, documents, photos and 21 human sources – including nine former Miami players or recruits, and one former coach – corroborated multiple parts of Shapiro’s rule-breaking."

The wide-ranging report identifies many former Hurricanes now playing in the NFL. According to Shapiro, Jonathan Vilma "tried to kill" then-Florida State QB Chris Rix in an effort to earn a $5,000 bounty. Tavares Gooden and Antrel Rolle allegedly received watches as gifts, Devin Hester received an engagement ring, and Shapiro spent "thousands of dollars on clothing" for Hester, Gooden and Willis McGahee.

Robinson reports that Shapiro bought plane tickets for two of McGahee's friends to attend the 2002 Heisman Trophy ceremony, and flew DJ Williams' mother from California to Miami to spend time with her son and meet Shapiro's partner at the sports agency he co-owned, Michael Huyghue, who is currently the UFL commissioner.

Shapiro explained to Yahoo! Sports that he is now coming forward primarily because of "his feeling that after spending eight years forging what he thought were legitimate friendships with players, he was abandoned by many of the same Miami athletes he treated so well."

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CBSSports.com's Clark Judge wrote Monday that the lockout could end as soon as July 19, and today, PFT's Mike Florio says that July 17 is the new target date. At this pace, the lockout will be officially over by Thursday.

Barry Sanders admits that it would have been nice to win a Super Bowl but adds, "I don't know what else I could have done." He also says that "I would never say that (I was better than Emmitt Smith). He was too great of a player, and I loved competing against him.”

Stop me if you’ve seen this one before: very talented, much talked about Giants team gets off to a fast start. At midseason they’re 6-2 and looking like a legitimate Super Bowl contender. But in the second half, things start going south. There are rumblings about Tom Coughlin’s job security.

Moronic members of the press who only understand football on a box score level see that Eli Manning is leading the league in interceptions so, predictably, they question him. (Never mind that Manning, who had one of the best seasons of his career, was plagued by receivers’ drops and bad routes.)

There is a particularly heart-wrenching loss to the hated Eagles in Week 15 (apparently the punter not only kicked to DeSean Jackson but also singlehandedly gave up 28 points in the fourth quarter…right?), followed by what would turn out to be a playoff-hopes-slashing defeat at Green Bay the following week.

The change here needs to be made by fans and the media. It’s time to start recognizing Rolle as the Pro Bowl caliber rover that he is. Thanks to iffy linebackers, depth at safety and a schedule that frequently pitted them against three-receiver offenses, the Giants essentially converted to a three safety starting lineup in 2010. .

Rolle filled what used to be one of the outside linebacker positions. This was done because the former cornerback has the cover skills to line up against wideouts in the slot, but also the tackling prowess to play the edge on the run. What’s more, Rolle is a terrific blitzer, which allows coordinator Perry Fewell to disguise his fronts. Sound like any particular Packer you know?

1. Middle LinebackerJonathan Goff is not a bad player, but there is nothing electrifying about him either. This defense has a chance to be special. You can’t be special with a banal force in the middle.

2 Receiving weaponSteve Smith’s microfracture surgery (knee) leaves his future in doubt. The restricted free agent wideout will spend the entire offseason rehabbing and may not be ready come September. At tight end, the serviceable Kevin Boss is as tough as they come, but with the focus on vertical seam routes in Kevin Gilbride’s system, a better athlete in this spot would do wonders.

3. CenterShaun O’Hara made the Pro Bowl last season but strictly on name recognition. The 33-year-old (34 in June) missed all but six games with various injuries. When O’Hara did return to action, he looked creaky. Time to groom a replacement.

Ladies and gentlemen….your dark horse Super Bowl contender for 2011! The Giants have a veteran star quarterback, elite rushing attack (thanks in part to a cohesive offensive line) and defense loaded with talent along the front and back fours.

And most of these players have significant playoff experience. If this team can overcome the Big Apple drama that creeps up every year, it’s as tough an out as any.

Antrel Rolle probably should have thought about his choice before he signed with the New York Giants. For starters, he and the media in the Big Apple go well together, but only in the sense that he's always willing to offer up a ridiculous quote.

Like his most recent comment about his coach Tom Coughlin, who he called "too uptight."

"When you're talking about the coaching side of things, do I feel like things are a little too uptight? Yeah, I do," Rolle said on WQAM in Miami, via Mike Garafalo of the New Jersey Star-Ledger. “I feel like if he just loosened up just a little bit, still run the ship the way you want to run it, still run the program the way you want to run it but let us have a little fun, because at the end of the day that's what it's all about."

If this sounds familiar, well it should. Whenever the Giants (or Jaguars!) are/were losing, Coughlin is way too strict and mean and stuff. And whenever he wins, he's figured out a way to "cut loose." Or something.

Whether that's actually what's happening, or whether everyone's just in a better mood when a team is winning, well, that's getting harder to say. But the grass is always greener on the other side. Particularly when that proverbial grass is Rex Ryan and the AFC Championship-bound New York Jets.

Fortunately, fellow safety Kenny Phillips joined Rolle on the interview to chat about the other NY coach/team.

"I would love to play for a guy like Rex," Phillips said. "He goes to bat for his players. He'll take the blame, he allows you to be you. He's not asking you to hide. If you're a guy who likes to talk, go out and talk, long as you back it up. Like ‘trel said, His guys are playing for him and I'd love to be a part of that."

There's zero chance that this sits well with Coughlin (or owner John Mara, who's throwing his confidence behind his coach). And if you think Coughlin gets cheesed off about coaching in a place where he's constantly on the hot seat, well, his reaction to his players comparing him to Rex and calling him "too uptight" should do some wonderful things for the locker room chemistry.

A couple days ago on his weekly radio spot with WFAN, Rolle compared New York fans – or Jersey fans or Jersey Shore fans or whomever – booing their home-town fans to U.S. citizens booing U.S. troops.

Today, Rolle defended his words.

"They want to make it that guys paid this much money for a ticket, yeah, I understand that, I understand completely,” said Rolle via the NY Daily News. “We risk ourselves out there on the field each and every day also. When soldiers come home from Iraq you don't boo them. I look at it the same way. I take my job seriously.

"I appreciate my fans, I appreciate them to the fullest, I am going to continue to play for them as I always have. I am going to continue to be the best guy I could be for them. Nothing's going to change. There's not a real big deal. They asked a question. I gave them an answer."

So, points there for honesty and for not backing down from what could be regarded as a controversial statement.

But don’t we all hate when football players compare themselves to soldiers or compare their games to war? Isn’t it just the height of obnoxiousness, especially when you consider a guy like Pat Tillman? I always think about Kellen Winslow (you can see why here ) when an athlete says something similar to that. War this and soldier that. It’s just an ignorant attitude to have.

But if you want to blame somebody, Rolle says, he’s not the guy you should target. Instead, blame his genetics.

UPDATE (6:24 p.m.): Rolle has clarified his comments through the Star-Ledger and SNY.

“I gave the analogy as far as when you have troops coming from Iraq they don’t get booed. And you know, it’s not even a comparable analogy,” he told the two reporters. “You cannot remotely compare what we do as opposed to what they do. They’re fighting for our freedom, they’re fighting for our country, We’re out there playing a game. At the end of the day, it’s a game. We get paid a lot of money, I understand that. But at the end of the day it’s a game.

“But some people, I’m sure they’re going to take that and run and say, ‘Oh my God, Antrel is comparing himself to troops in Iraq.’ No I’m not comparing myself to troops in Iraq. I couldn’t (serve in the military). I’m not brave enough to do it. I’ll be the first one to admit it. I’m not brave enough to do that so I’ll definitely tip my hat to those guys and those troopers that risk their lives and put their lives on the line in order for me to play the sport I love to play."

Rolle also added that the Giants defense "is the best defense in the business, no doubt about it."

Fortunately, there are statistics to tell us whether he's right or wrong -- he's not *technically* correct, since the Chargers are still the top defensive team in the NFL, but the Giants are a close second, giving up only 177.9 passing yards per game and 85.4 rushing. Lest you not like "average yardage," the Chargers (and Titans) are also ahead of New York in sacks, but only by one.

The Giants are good, and I said as much myself last night, but Rolle's probably better served letting the praise come to the Giants rather than seek it out -- they don't get a chance to prove themselves against an elite AFC team until it matters anyway.

"I don't understand how they want us to tackle," Rolle said after the Giants' 24-10 loss to the Ravens. "It's pretty much out of control. You're running full speed. Just let us play ball. We're not intentionally out there to hurt somebody. Let us play ball."

"Honestly, I don't see any other way I could have done it," Rolle said. "He was bobbling the ball. He could've caught the ball had I not made the collision with him."

Really? We're supposed to believe that? From a guy who got fined $7,500 last year for a hit on now-teammate Kevin Boss?

Look, it stinks sometimes that the NFL takes the "big" out of "big hit" but we're talking about people's lives and long-term health here. It shouldn't be that difficult to learn how not to be over-aggressive.

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